Michigan not among five states granted No Child Left Behind flexibility waivers

Mlive.com archivesStudents at Gladiola Elementary in Wyoming enjoy an activity during a T.E.A.M. 21 after school program.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Michigan was not among five states announced on Friday as receiving a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind law, but state officials say they only recently submitted revisions to their application requesting flexibility.

Arkansas, Missouri, South Dakota, Utah and Virginia bring the total to 24 states exempted from the NCLB law that all students become proficient in reading and math by 2014.

The majority of schools are expected to be out of compliance. Michigan is among 12 states and Washington, D.C. still under review.

“The department has just submitted revisions to our waiver application and we hope to have a positive determination very soon," said Jan Ellis, spokeswoman for the state Department of Education.

There are conditions states must meet in exchange for the waivers, including developing accountability plans for advancing teacher effectiveness, raising achievement, preparing all students for careers and college, and improving the performance of low-performing schools.

"States must show they are protecting children in order to get flexibility," said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. "These states met that bar."

In May, MLive reported U.S. Education Department leaders said they approved of much of what Michigan educators are trying to accomplish, including raising standards on Michigan Educational Assessment Program tests to meet college and career readiness goals.

But federal leaders said the state had work to do. They raised concerns about the low weight assigned to graduation rates in the proposed accountability system and the timeline for intervening into failing schools.

Among the state’s new goals is to have 85 percent of the students proficient by 2022. In its application, state leaders say having 100 percent of students be career-and college-ready is the goal but the system demands high levels of improvement.

"Currently, even very high performing schools are not at 85 percent proficient on our new career‐ and college‐ready cut scores," according to the application.
NCLB calls for states to test students in core subjects each year. Schools must show improvement or face sanctions. That improvement has to include subgroups of students, including major ethnic/racial groups, economically disadvantaged students, limited English proficient students, and students with disabilities.

Educators, Democrats and Republicans widely agree NCLB needs to be fixed, and not just in how it's administered. The law is credited with exposing inequalities.

Some of Michigan's other waiver request changes are:

• A slightly heavier emphasis on graduation rates in the Scorecard (making it equal to the other content subjects).

• Addition of a detailed timeline that highlights the department's support for educator evaluation implementation.

• Emphasized that state assessments will be utilized as one means of determining growth as part of educator evaluations.

Email: mscott2@mlive.com and follow her on Twitter at Twitter.com/GRPScotty.